In the field of gymnastic machines the use is well known of equipment provided with a load group provided with a weight stack of adjustable mass, which can be actuated with a substantially vertical alternating motion through a flexible member, usually an adequately dimensioned cable or tape. The cable/tape presents a first end portion coupled to a coupling member of the weight stack and a further end portion coupled to an implement, which can be a pulldown bar in the case of a so-called lat machine, or a handle in the case of a cable crossover machine. In other cases the implement is associated to the cable in an intermediate position, as in the case of the functional machines of the “Kinesis” line of the same Applicant, whose teachings are protected under the European patent EP 1402925.
It is easy to understand that machines of this type require a great care of the parts in relative movement, such as, by way of non-limiting example, the guide of the rectilinear motion to which slides are coupled provided with ball sleeves carrying the weight stacks, which can present considerable mass, and also the return pulleys for the cables. This entails the need for producing machines that are very complex regarding their components and therefore highly expensive, and requires high commitment in maintenance due to the need to maintain the parts in reciprocal movement able to slide in an optimum manner. Machines as those mentioned above are therefore not particularly suitable for outdoor use, and especially for installation on boats or in marine environments, where they could be particularly exposed to moist and brackish airstreams, which accelerate corrosion. These weight stack machines are furthermore accompanied by a great drawback, linked to the considerable entity of the load stressing the floor, which makes it difficult to install them in buildings or boats not designed for this purpose.
However, the demand for machines for executing functional exercises is significantly increasing not only by people without great resources for buying a new house or boat or for making structural changes to their old ones, but also by people desiring to give attendees a gymnastic equipment safe and easy to be used, even if their gym is located in a marine environment.
In view of the above description, the problem of having available a functional machine, which is easy to use, requires limited maintenance and lasts, independently of its collocation, is currently unsolved and represents an interesting challenge for the Applicant, who believes it could take advantage over the competitors by satisfying a niche market interested in executing functional exercises but currently penalised due to what described above.
In view of the situation described above, it would be desirable to have available a gymnastic equipment which, in addition to enabling to limit and possibly to overcome the typical drawbacks of the prior art illustrated above, could define a new standard for these types of devices for functional training